No One Asked Me But… (November 28, 2012)

No one asked me but… The Hostess Bakery Company galted the Baker’s Union and its 18,500 members.

Those of you who are familiar with Ayn Rand’s classic Atlas Shrugged know the main question in the book is: Who is John Galt? Stand by for a spoiler alert. John Galt is the man who organized the withdrawal of all the men in society who have the money and who have the knowledge of how to run a successful business. This left only the inept government to keep the country’s economy going.

Being ‘galted’ is a word that I have just made up, but I believe it will be used more often as those with means and know-how merely take their money and disappear.

Ayn Rand says galtism when it reaches it fruition leads to inept government officials running business and protecting the worker who of course will then continue to vote to keep those who run the government in power.

This would lead to a country run not as a democracy but as an INEPTOCRACY. What does this word mean? It is defined as a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of productivity and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.

I hate to admit that this word and definition is from a logo on a T-shirt. But it still seems apropos.

We have reached a point in the battle between the owner and the worker where many of those who supply the means may no longer be willing to do so. In the ideal world, the owner would use his wealth to increase his resources and in so doing, he would supply the worker with a fair standard of living.

Before the raise of labor unions, the men of wealth exploited the workers by paying slave wages and keeping the workers in abject poverty. The worker came to realize the only bargaining chip he has is his labor, without which the owner cannot increase his wealth. Labor organized and refused to work until the bosses paid a decent wage. This effort has been successful and has grown to the point that unions have become the oppressor and the business owners the victim.

Do not get me wrong; I am under no illusion if not checked in some manner that the owners will not again return the worker to abject poverty to maximize their profit. To verify this fact, look at the conditions of the workers in the off-shore factories where American manufacturers have moved their operations.

The owner’s weapon is shutting down operations. When Ford Motors was owned by Henry Ford, he could make a decision to shut down if operating costs were not producing the profits he felt was a fair return on his investment. Now that Ford Motors is a corporation with many stockholders, it is harder to make that decision. When a corporation shuts it doors, the laborer is denied not only his means of support but also some will also lose the investment they have in the corporation.

A new form of businessmen has appeared. They take over companies that are not turning a profit they feel is commensurate with their investment. They then shut down the company, sell the brand for a profit and move on.

That is likely what will happen to our beloved Twinkies. This solves the businessmen’s problems on both ends. By selling the company, owners walk with a profit.

Those who buy the brand, re-open with new employees who will agree to less pay and benefits, or they go off-shore and set up their operations allowing for the profits they feel are fair. The worker loses in either incident.

That my friend, fair or unfair, is the result of being ‘galted’ and I truly believe this is not the last we will see of this maneuver from business owners.

No one asked me but… Susan Rice, our ambassador to the United Nations, was sent before the nation with a lie agreed upon by the administration over the Benghazi massacre.

As the story goes, an obscure moviemaker in California put a trailer out on a movie that was less than flattering to the Islamic Religion. Apparently, some people in Egypt took offense to the trailer and demonstrated in front of the American Embassy. A day or so later, a terrorist branch of al-Qaeda performed a military assault on the Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

The present administration knowingly lied to the American people through Susan Rice. Ms. Rice may very well have not known the information she was delivering was false. But the administration that provided her with that information surely did. This may very well end the career of a very capable individual who is in consideration for the Secretary of State position to be vacated by Hillary Clinton.

This sad story parallels what happened to Colin Powell. Powell, who was the first African American on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was appointed Secretary of State by George W. Bush. He without a doubt had a good shot at becoming the first African American President, until the Bush Administration sent him out with false information about Weapons of Mass Destruction and used that information for the invasion of Iraq. He became the face and voice of the administration and his credibility was destroyed when the administration had to admit they had no real evidence to back up their claims.

General Powell quietly faded into the background until the election in 2008 when he came out in support of the Democratic Candidate Barack Obama. Typical of Republicans, he did not repudiate his party status, he merely supported the opposing party’s candidate. He would make a great Nevada Republican.

Powell then slipped back in to the fog of American politics until just before the 2012 election when he again came out in support of Barack Obama. Had he supported Mitt Romney, he would surely have carried some of the African American vote for the Republicans.

I doubt if you will see Susan Rice supporting Republicans in the next election; that is not the Democrat way, but the party has done her the same disservice the Republicans did Colin Powell.

Thought of the week… Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear or an idiot from any direction.